Over the last couple of years, Metal Construction News has tried to feature more pictures of people on the job site. This was an outgrowth of our industry summit in April 2018, “Attract and Train: Developing a Workforce for the New Metal Construction Industry.” A lot of attendees bemoaned the fact that construction workers don’t get enough recognition, making it harder to attract young people to the trades.
MCN wants to showcase the people on the job site
Over the years, most of the pictures in MCN were of projects, not people. So, we’ve been trying to change it. We understand the pride people on the job site take in the work they do, and we want to share that pride with the industry.
Next year, we want to do even more. Beginning with the February issue, we’re starting a one-page feature called “Site Scene” that will appear on the last page of the magazine every other month, which is one of the pages that gets the most notice. We want to run pictures of people on the job, so we’re calling on you to send us your photos. Here’s what we need:
- High-resolution images of workers in the metal construction industry. These don’t need to be professionally shot. Most smartphones shoot at a quality level that will allow us to print the images.
- Describe briefly the work being done.
- Identify all the people in the picture.
- Provide the name and location of the companies they work for.
- Give us the project names and locations.
- Include the date the photo was taken.
- Credit the person who took the photo.
We’ll also run these on our website as well, and we’ll likely be able to show a lot more there than we can in the magazine. We hope this feature takes off, and we’d like to do it more often.
To submit a photo and information, send an email with the photo attached and the information we need in the body of the email. You can submit to Senior Editor Mark Robins, mrobins@moderntrade.com.
One note of caution. Nothing riles up our readers more than if we run a picture of people on the job working in an unsafe condition or not meeting OSHA safety requirements. Please make sure your photo shows workers complying with all safety regulations. (In fact, go ahead and make sure all your workers comply with safety regulations whether a photo is being taken or not.)
Don’t hesitate. Get your photos in now, and let’s reward and recognize the people on the job site who make this industry go.
